Overlooked amidst the council candidate filing are the financial disclosure forms filed by the various candidates.

One of the most interesting aspects of the reports filed by both the Tom Tait and Lucille Kring mayoral campaigns is how close their fundraising has been the past 6 months. Kring has matched Tait almost dollar for dollar (actually slightly outraising him)- which ordinarily would be surprising since he is the sitting mayor. On the other hand, he is handicapped by the reality that he has alienated much of the donor base that supported him in previous elections.

Here are the mayoral candidate campaigns (including Lorri Galloway), by the numbers:

Monetary Contributions January 1-June 30
Tait:  $65,522
Kring: $65,547
Galloway: $52,976 ($17,976 after excluding personal loans)

Expenditures January 1-June 30
Tait: $33,764.75
Kring:  $36,581.65
Galloway:  $51,520.63

Cash-on-Hand
Tait:  $105,433.50
Kring:  $55,547.96
Galloway:  $30,131.85

Debt:
Tait:   $0
Kring:  $150
Galloway: $71,676.48

 

Generally speaking, all things being equal, odds always favor the incumbent. At the same time, Tait and Kring are at rough parity in terms of fundraising, and from what I’m hearing, there will be vigorous IE efforts both pro- and anti-Tait.

Galloway is obviously banking on Tait and Kring nuking each other (either directly or indirectly via IEs), and walking up the middle.

A lot can happen between now and November, and it will almost certainly be a bloody campaign.